


Bad News

by afteriwake



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-18
Updated: 2012-09-18
Packaged: 2017-11-14 12:16:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/515149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's hard, to tell her what happened and how it's all because he tried to save a marriage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bad News

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a Doctor/River ficathon with the prompt "the Ponds are gone, and the Doctor isn't quite sure how to tell River that she might never see her parents again." Spoilers for season 7 are present in this fic, though it's kind of AU.

River boarded the TARDIS with a smile on her face. She had missed the Doctor, missed his company and the way she always felt more alive when she was with him. “Hello, my love,” she said, moving up to him to give him a kiss. She stopped when she saw the look on his face. “You look so serious,” she said, her smile becoming a frown.

“I need to speak to you about something important,” he said, looking down at the ground.

“Well, tell me,” she said.

He had his hands in front of him and he was wringing them. “Your parents had a fight. I thought if I took them on a trip, somewhere where they wouldn’t be in danger, that they could work things out. I thought New York would be safe, New York now, at any rate. I thought everything would be fine.”

“What happened?” she asked, placing her hands over his, stopping the wringing motions.

He looked up at her, and all the years he had lived were etched on his face. “Weeping Angels,” he said quietly. “They’ve disappeared somewhere in time. I don’t even know if they’re together anymore.” River brought her hands up to her face. Her parents, lost in time? Without each other? She wanted to break down and cry. He must have seen this because he wrapped his arms around her. “I will find them,” he whispered in her ear. “I will tear all of time and the entirety of Earth apart to find them, I swear to you.”

River began to cry, burying her face in his shoulder as he held her close. She had hoped to spend more time with them before her time ended. She hadn’t had nearly enough time with them, she realized, and there was so much she had wanted to say to them and do with them. She’d already had them stolen from her once, and she had tried so hard to find them, so hard to get them together so she could be born, and while she treasured those times with them it was not the same as them knowing they were her parents and she was their Melody.

He held her close, not saying anything. She wanted to be angry at him, she wanted to hit him and make him hurt as much as she hurt, but she knew it was no use. Her parents made the decisions they wanted and they trusted him, and even her love was not infallible. He had his flaws, and she knew that so well, so very well. When she pulled away she could see that he looked older. The loss of his best friends was weighing down on his heart so much, so she knew they shared this pain, and that made it just a little easier to bear.

“Come on. Let’s start looking for them,” she said, using the back of her hand to wipe her eyes.

“All right,” he said with a nod. They made their way to the library and settled in with the histories of Earth. It would be a long search, and it may end badly, but they would try.


End file.
